Demountable wheel rim



March 23 1926.

A. F. PARKER ET AL DEMOUNTABLE WHEEL RIM Filed Nov. 1924 INVENTORSHllEiiilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll? ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 23, 1926 unit-En E S, PATENT- orriciz,

ARTHUR FRANKLIN ranxnn -nnenn nanny nnwrr'i AND SAMUEL D A wA'r-KrNs, ormrimrsnune, PENNSYLVANIA.

DEMOUJNTABLEWQEEL Inn.

Application: aiea November 25,1924. Serial No. 752,187.

in the county of Center and Stateoi Penn sylvania, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Demountable WVheel Rims, of. which thefollowing is a specification. p N

This invention relates to demountable wheel rims, more particularly tothe rims employed on wheels having pneumatic tires, and has for oneofits objects toprovide a device of this character having improved meansfor contracting the rim to facilitate the removal and application of thetire.

Another object otthein'vention is to provide a device of this characterwhich may be adapted without material structural change to wheels 01various sizes and to wheel'rims of various configurations.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in certainnovel features of construct-ion as hereinafter shown and described andthen specifically pointed out in the claims, and in the drawingsillustrative of the. preferred embodiment of the invention- Figure 1 isa side elevation of a portion of a conventional wheel with theimprovement applied.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of a portion of a. divided wheel rim withthe improvement applied.

Figure 8 is a section on the. line d-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4; is a transverse section on the line 4-t of Figure 1, lookingin the direction ot the arrow.

Figure 5 is a view similar to a portion of Figure 2, illustrating aslight modification in the construction.

Figure 6 is a sectional detail illustrating the operation.

A part of the telloe is represented at 10, portions of a pair of thespokes at 11, a part of the rim at 12, and a section of the pneumatictire at 13, these parts being of the usual construction.

The rim is of the usual divided form with its terminals abutting end toend as shown at 14, when in position on the telloe, and one of theabutting ends is recessed as at 14, for the purpose hereinafter setforth. As it is well known, rims of this type are adapted to becontracted and expanded to facilitate the removal from or the applica:tion of the tire thereto.

The present invention resides inimproved means for tliusflcontractingand expanding the divided rim, and comprises a raclribar 15 riveted orotherwise rigidly attached. as shown at 16 to theinner face of the rim12 atone side of the division 1 1, the terminal portion of the rackextending 'eyond the adjacent end oft ie rim'and curved outwardly inshort segmental-form as shown'at 17;, the teeth of the body of the rackmerging into the teetho'fthe 'shortercnrved portion, as shown moreclearly in Figure 6, the object to behereat'ter explained. I

The telloe 10, fer illustration, isof :the usual-rolled steel channelshape transversely, and cut through the annular. sides or" the telloeare recesses or sockets indicated 18 and attached to the inner face o'tthe riniare spaced bearings 19, the latter riveted or otherwise rigidlyattached, as shown at 20, to the rim and extending into the sockets.Rotat-iwely supported in the bearings a stub shaft 21, and attached toor formed in tegral with the shaft 21 is a gear pinion 22 adapted toengage the. rack 15, and its segmental terminal 17, when the shaftis1'0- tated, the shaft having a head 22 to receive a turning wrench, notshown. lVhen the pinion 22 is turned, the teeth thereoi will engage theteeth upon the portion 17 of the rack and run down and along theunderside of the rack. The attached end of the. rim will be drawndownwardly and beneath the adjacent rim end, causing the ends to overlap.

The bearings 19 ot the shaft 21 are so located that when the terminalsotthe divided rim are arranged in abutting relation, as shown in Figures 1and L, the terminal tooth of the segmental or reversely curved portion17 ot' the rack bar 15 will be engaged by the pinion, as shown moreclearly in Figure 6, so that the presence ot the pinion does notinterfere with the abutting relation of the ends of the rim. Then whenthe rim is to be contracted to permit its removal from the tire, thefirst partial rotation of the shaft 21 will cause the pinion to engagethe reversely curved portion 17 and climb upon the rack and passthereover and draw the end of the rim to which the pinion is attachedinwardly and thus decrease the diameter of the rim and enable the tireto be easily removed.

\Vhen the tire is to be restored to the rim after its puncture has beenpatched, or when an unimpaired tire is to be applied to the rim, the rimis leftcontracted until after the tire has been disposed thereon, andthen the pinion rotated in the opposite direction to apply retrogrademovement to the rack to forcibly expand the rim and when the pinion runsupon the short reversely curved portion 17, it will forcibly move the0011- tracted end outwardly until the ends are again disposed inabutting position.

Pivoted at 23 to the rim 12 is a lock latch operative to engage thepinion 22, and hold the same in adjusted position and prevent theaccidental or premature displacement or retrograde movement of thepinion.

The device is simple in construction, can be inexpensively manufacturedand of any required size or strength to adapt it to the size of thewheel to which it is applied.

WVhile the. device is shown applied to a conventional channel shapedfelloe it will be understood that the invention is not necessarilylimited to this form of felloe.

The strength of the parts of the device may be varied to correspond tothe size or form of the Wheel.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed in the drawingsand set forth in the specification, but it will be understood thatmodifications within the scope of the claimed invention may be made inthe construction without depar ing from the principle of the inventionor sacrificing any of its advantages.

Having thus described the invention whatis claimed is:

In a device of the character set forth, a split demountable wheel rimhaving a re? cess formed in one of the abutting ends thereof, a gearrack secured to ti 0 central. underside of said rim longitudinallythereof and having one end rounded and extending beyond the otherabutting end gear teeth formed upon said rounded end,a pinion gearpivotally mounted beneath said recessed portion and normally engagingsaid teeth and acting when revolved to break said rim, said pinionpassing along the underside of said rack causingthe rim ends to overlap,and means connected with said pinion whercby the same may be caused torevolve.

In testimony whereof, we affix our signatures hereto.

ARTHUR F. PAR-KER. EDGAR H. HEYVITT. SAMUEL E. WATKINS.

